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World War II at Floyd Bennett Field

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World War II at Floyd Bennett Field National Park Service Floyd Bennett Field U.S. Department of the Interior Gateway National Recreation Area Jamaica Bay Unit World War II 1941 - 1945 Naval Air Station - Floyd Bennett Field was a significant United States “home front” site during the Second New York World War, and is among the most important in regard to naval aviation. As Naval Air 1941-1945 Station - New York, nearly all of the U.S. Navy’s aviation roles were carried out at Floyd Bennett Field. Among these were training, patrols, and the largest of the operations on the field: the acceptance, testing, and ferrying of aircraft for delivery to various combat theaters. Through these activities, the men and women who served at Floyd Bennett Field made vital contributions to the Allied war effort around the world. Naval Aviation’s Floyd Bennett Field was opened as New York City’s seaport. The Navy agreed to purchase the field Home in Brookyn first municipal airport on May 23, 1931. When it from New York City for $9 million in 1941. The last opened, Floyd Bennett Field was among the most civilian flight took place on May 26, and Naval Air modern airports in the world. As a result it was the Station – New York was established on June 2, site where many record breaking, or significant 1941. flights originated, or were completed during the 1930’s. The field’s facilities were constantly being The U.S. Navy had already been an established upgraded and improved. This kept Floyd Bennett presence at Floyd Bennett Field when the airport Field in the forefront of the world’s airports. was purchased from the city. A Naval Air Reserve However, lack of easy access to the airport, and Squadron had been established on the same day the New York City’s inabilty to lure the lucrative air airport opened, and carried on the training of pilots mail contracts away from Newark Airport in New and ground crews throughout the 1930’s. First Jersey meant that Floyd Bennett Field was destined based in Hangar 5, and later in Hangar 1 along to lose money for the city. Flatbush Avenue, the Navy facilities were designated Naval Air Station – Brooklyn during the municipal With the opening of Municipal Airport Number 2 airport period. The establishment of Coast Guard (LaGuardia Airport) in 1939, the city government Air Station – Brooklyn on the east side of the field began to look for a buyer for Floyd Bennett Field. followed in 1936. With the 1941 purchase of Floyd At the same time, the United States was finding it Bennett Field by the Navy, and the subsequent increasingly difficult to stay out of the World War II expansion of the Navy and Coast Guard facilities, a (which had been raging in Europe since 1939). The vital step in America’s pre-war preparedness was U.S. Navy began looking to expand its aviation achieved. capabilities around the nation’s largest city and “Lend-Lease” and the In March of 1941, vowing to make the United territorial waters, as well as all ships sailing under “Neutrality Patrols” States the “arsenal of democracy,” President the American flag. Flying PBY Catalinas, and other Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation creating the naval patrol aircraft, crews from Floyd Bennett Lend – Lease program. This allowed Great Britain Field and other naval air stations escorted the and other Allies to borrow or lease vital war convoys from above to protect them from the materials from the United States. To protect the German U-boats below. Had these convoys not convoys of ships carrying these crucial materials been conducted safely across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York to Great Britain, “Neutrality the Allies might not have been able to withstand the Patrols” were established. Ostensibly these patrols Nazi war machine during the early years of the war. were flown to protect ships within United States The Battle of the Atlantic When the United States entered World War II on 1941 - 1943 December 7, 1941, Naval Air Station – New York’s acitivities expanded dramatically. The anti- submarine patrols were expanded, as the Germans had declared unrestricted submarine warfare against the no longer neutral American merchant fleet. These ships were now carrying American troops, in addition to the still vital war materials. While many ships were lost in the early stages of the war, increased patrols and improved antisubmarine weapons and tactics turned the tide of what Winston Churchill called the “Battle of the Atlantic”. By late 1943, the vast majority of merchant ships were arriving at their destinations. If A Consolidated PBY “Catalina” patrol plane. These they had not , the invasion of Normandy, and the aircraft were flown by the U.S. Navy and provided to liberation of Europe would not have been possible. the Royal Air Force through Lend -Lease. The Aircraft Delivery Floyd Bennett Field was the busiest naval air This vital function was carried out by the Aircraft Units and the Ferry station in the United States during World War II. Delivery Units, which were re-designated as the Squadrons This was in large part due to the activities of the Naval Air Ferry Command in 1943, and arircraft delivery units and the ferry squadrons. headquartered at Floyd Bennett Field. There The pilots and ground crews of these units were were two ferry squadrons based at Floyd Bennett responsible for the acceptance, testing, and Field, designated VRF-1 and VRF-4. All told, delivery of newly built planes. The biggest Naval Air Station- New York, received and manufacturers of naval aircraft were largely commisioned well over 40,000 aircraft, the largest located in the New York metropolitan area. amount of any naval air station during the war. Grumman, Chance-Vought, and General Motors Since the war in the Pacific was fought in large built nearly every type of airplane in the Navy’s part by naval aviators and their aircraft, the inventory, from carrier borne fighters and activities at Floyd Bennett Field were integral in bombers, to amphibious patrol planes. Because helping the Allies defeat Japan. of the factories’ proximity to New York City, the most logical place to send the planes after they rolled off the assembly line was Floyd Bennett Field. While at the field, the planes were tested, fitted out, and commissioned into the Navy. Once commissioned, these planes were flown to their Grumman F6-F “Hellcats” on the next destination. In most cases, this was to the deck of the USS Bennington. west coast for shipment to Navy and Marine Thousands of these fighters were Corps aviation units in the Pacific Theater. At the delivered by the ferry squadrons start of the war, this process could take 10 days. from Floyd Bennett Field. By 1943, it took just 3 days. Helicopter Training Floyd Bennett Field had been at the forefront of II, the pilots trained at Floyd Bennett Field to fly developing aviation technology since it opened in these aircraft would have a lasting impact on the 1931, and the World War II period was no different. future of aviation. The Navy had been interested in the helicopter as an aircraft for use in air-sea rescue operations. With the acceptance of the Sikorsky R-4 helicopter for military use in 1943, pilots were needed to fly them. Thus, the Navy established the first helicopter training facility in the world in November of 1943 in the Coast Guard hangar on the east side of Floyd Bennett Field. Pilots from the Navy, Coast Guard, Army Air Force, and Britain’s Royal Navy were trained to fly the new aircraft. Most of these pilots and their helicopters were sent to the Pacific and China-Burma-India Theaters. The helicopter’s The first helicopter rescue winch is demonstrated by vertical takeoff and landing capabilities were Coast Guardsman Sergei Sikorsky, the son of its invaluable in rescuing downed airmen and other inventor Igor Sikorsky, on land (left,) and in troops from areas inaccessible to other types of Jamaica Bay off Floyd Bennett Field in 1944. This aircraft. Although the helicopters arrived in too few device proved invaluable in the air - sea rescue role. numbers to have a significant impact on World War For More Information: Superintendent Jamaica Bay Unit Gateway National Recreation Area Building 69 Floyd Bennett Field Brooklyn, NY 11234 Telephone (718) 338 - 3338 Internet: www.nps.gov/gate Printed on paper containing at least 50 % post - consumer waste. 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